Communicating sustainable design

Ian Storer, Kevin Badni, Tracy Bhamra, Simon Farmer

2005,Vol. 10,No. 2,

Abstract

This paper outlines research undertaken at
Loughborough University to investigate
innovative methods of communicating the
complex issues associated with Sustainability
with post-16 students in the UK as part of their
design and technology education. A series of
posters articulating elements of sustainable
design were developed by a team consisting of;
sustainable design experts, two industrial
designers and an undergraduate design
student. The poster designs were presented to
post-16 students and teachers in three iterative
development cycles with the responses
recorded using a mix of semi-structured
discussion and a series of questionnaires. The
research results indicate that posters can
provide a useful and innovative method of
communicating sustainable design issues to
students in Design and Technology. However,
the results also show that the content of
posters must provide a balance of inspirational
images and detailed information, with further
resources available to enable more in-depth
study. These findings are now being used to
produce a final poster set which will be
published by ITDG in the coming year and
available for use by students when tackling
sustainable design.